


London Calling

by VirginiasWolf



Series: Life Moves On [6]
Category: Death in Paradise
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 23:57:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20380273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirginiasWolf/pseuds/VirginiasWolf
Summary: A broken nose means that Richard isn't exactly cleared for plane travel from Paris to London. At least the ensuing, horrifically long, boat ride gives him and Camille time to discuss big plans.Part of the Life Moves On series and takes place after "From Paris, With Love" but involves a bit of a time jump so that the relationship has been going on for a couple of months now and they have both left INTERPOL and found jobs and a house together in London.





	London Calling

**Author's Note:**

> A line that was initially in reference to Richard turning fifty has now been changed after I learned that Richard is canonically several years younger than Ben Miller is, because as mentioned before, this series is supposed to be something that seems completely believable as what could be happening alongside the events of the series, because Richard is completely and totally alive.

For not the first time in his life, Richard Poole is in pain. In fact, he actually feels like he's been punched in the face, except it isn't an expression because less than twenty-four hours ago, he genuinely was punched in the face by Charles Lambert, the asshole Frenchman whom he hopes he never has to see again. At least Doug Anderson hit him with evil words, not with actual physical punches. Richard supposes it was lucky, although perhaps unlucky for his pride, that his girlfriend truly is able to beat a grown man with her own fists, and a well-placed knee to the groin. He could almost feel sorry for his own attacker. Almost. It had been an unprovoked attack after all, and Richard is just tired of being any form of punching bag even if somebody does have his back now.

  
Now, his nose is definitely broken and is in fact cradled with gauze from a Parisian ER. To add, this recent injury has meant that he isn't cleared to fly so what was supposed to be a relatively short flight between Paris and London has turned into a much longer boat ride on zero sleep, and with a racist mother and her crying baby as two of his nearest seatmates.

  
At least his third seatmate is pleasant. Well, maybe not quite pleasant because said person is running on as little sleep as he is, has a hurt hand, and has clearly been more of the target of their bitchy seat mate's jeers than he has. At least she's someone he genuinely wants to be around though.

  
It isn't an exaggeration to say that Camille has been his rock, his anchor in every sense of the word, and if he allows himself a moment to get sentimental, he is well aware that if she hadn't come back into his life at the exact moment she did, he would no doubt be dead by now, and now she has chosen to take a blind leap and move to London to start a completely new career and life all so they can be together.

  
Because of this, he decides that despite his own tiredness and annoyance, he'll gladly let her air any complaints she has to him, and from how she's wearing the intensely annoyed expression that is usually reserved for him, he has a feeling she'll have more than a few.

He expects her annoyances to be about Charles and about their seatmates, but despite this, he is still partially thrown for a loop by her next comment. "I think I want to adopt."

  
"Excuse me?" Richard has nothing against adopting a child and he certainly thinks Camille will be an amazing mother, even to a child that isn't biologically hers, but he also thinks that bringing a child into their home after what is technically less than two months dating feels like a bit of a quick move even if he can easily see himself spending the rest of his life with her. He has barely gotten control of his own mind as it is, why would he want to become a father this soon after his own suicide attempts?

  
Before he can try to explain himself, she yawns and adds "I mean when we're ready for kids. I've suddenly been reminded of how loud and annoying babies can be and we're both too old for dealing with that." At this, Camille casts a not quite discreet glare at their unbearable seat companions, and the rude woman does at least seem to have the sense to look withered under the gaze.

  
Something else hits Richard though, which is that this is a real discussion. The chosen location for it is obviously partially to assure their unpleasant neighbor that despite all snide remarks about interracial relationships, this black woman and this white man are secure enough in their relationship that they may one day raise children who will no doubt be indoctrinated into the "horrible" belief that there is absolutely nothing wrong with loving someone of a different skin color. However, Camille is also telling Richard that she truly does want him to be the person that she spends her life and raises a family with, even if she does want it to be a slightly unconventional one, and he can't help but agree that perhaps an older child would be the best thing to bring into their home when the time is right; both because he is painfully aware that he's reached the age where people want to stop celebrating birthdays and because he hopes that a loving home will be able to prevent any child from turning out exactly like him. He won't ever reveal the second part to Camille though. For some reason he can't quite fathom, she actually insists that she genuinely likes how he turned out.

  
Richard suddenly becomes aware that she is favoring her hand again. "How umm, how is your hand feeling?"

  
"Probably not as bad as your nose. Oh god, what could Charles have possibly been thinking?"

  
Richard sighs and then winces at how awkward it makes his face feel. "I suspect he saw me as some sort of competition. Take out the older, more, well...older male leaving the female open for the younger, healthier males to breed with. Sorry, it's a terrible analogy," he adds before Camille can complain about being compared to some sort of animal.

  
Instead of getting annoyed, however, Camille responds softly. "There never was any sort of competition. Even if you weren't actually in Paris waiting for me, I wasn't going to just jump back into bed with him. It's been over a decade since we, well...and I left Saint Marie because I couldn't bear to tell Humphrey that I didn't want to date him because I was still in love with a dead man. You were, and still are the only one I want, and if I couldn't have you I was prepared to just spend the rest of my life single."

  
"Well, that's a bit dramatic, especially for me. Oww!" Richard flinches as Camille pokes his arm with her good hand.

  
"You're not allowed to talk like that about yourself!"

  
"I mean if I was really-OWW!" The second jab lands harder on his arm and this time he takes the hint.

  
For a while, they both lapse into silence. The rude neighbor has also gotten up to walk with her child, perhaps feeling either too horrified that her rudeness didn't work, or maybe by some miracle realizing that she really was being cruel. Likely the first though.

  
Suddenly, Camille speaks again with her head lying on his shoulder. "I just realized I haven't even told Maman about you yet."

  
"I think your mother knows about me already. I'd like to think I left some sort of an impression on her, even if it wasn't positive."

  
At first, Camille looks as if she's about to poke him again, but instead she says, "She missed you too."

  
"Somehow I doubt that. She's probably glad I'm not there to insult her cooking any more."

  
"Richard," Camille's expression saddens before she adds, "There were days when I'd catch her preparing the kettle for you, and then she'd suddenly remember that you were gone and try to hide what she'd been doing so that I wouldn't be hurt by it."

  
"Oh." He intends to say something else as well, but somehow he hadn't expected himself to have left that much of an impression that even Camille's mother seemed to miss his presence. Except now this knowledge makes the time when he was left alone in France hurt even more. He'd been ripped away from the one place where he actually had begun to belong and until Camille came back into his life, nobody had seemed to think this was cruel or unusual; especially for a man who had almost died. Suddenly, something else hits him though. "Wait, if your mother missed me as much as you claim, which I highly doubt, then why haven't you told her about me yet?"

  
This time Camille is the one who sighs, "Because there had to be a good time to tell. I couldn't tell her when I first found out because we were under a confidentiality agreement, and then even when I could, it just seemed weird to randomly tell her, hey I've been dating this guy for about a month now. It's Richard. Oh, by the way, he's not dead, which is why I'm dating him."

  
There's something about the way she states the last part that actually makes him smile. "Well, I suppose you can tell her I'm alive when we get married." He hadn't intended to blurt that out. Despite his grand visions of a future with her, isn't it a bit too early to suggest wedding bells? She's going to think he's being a bit too hasty, and this might lead to second thoughts. Sure, she's claimed she wants him, but she's bound to realize she can do much better than being the wife of a short, pedantic British man who really doesn't have that much going for him physically and is only sinking past his prime years. What if-

  
His racing thoughts over his accidental suggestion must read plainly on his face because she smiles patiently at him. "I think I can live with that. I insist on hyphenating my name though, rather than outright taking yours."

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's a bit weird just starting the story with "surprise, Richard got punched in the face by Camille's ex," but every time I tried to write out the actual scene where it happened the story got weird and tangent-like and never actually ended up with any point or important discussion. Also kept the boat details minimum because I only had time to do the barest research since I am back at college now and technically supposed to be doing homework, like right now, but this little volume kept sticking with me.


End file.
